Tag Archives: Twitter

Today is a new day, one that everyone who is honest would gladly admit that they are proud to experience. On any given day, I would likely write to you about my beloved home of Fort Smith, Arkansas.

I might talk to you about reaching out and connecting to your friends, family and potential clients via Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and WordPress. I might even talk to you about marketing and adversiting solutions for your business and the various ways that you can utilize social media to save yourself and your business time and money.

All of these forms of technology and ways of connecting on the grid are relevant to our way of life. But let’s suppose for a moment that you were to become disconnected from the grid or the grid were to go down for any one of a million reasons. Then what?

My last article on this site was Social Media: Now What? and included a picture of an old computer. It’s no secret that ever day people across the globe are struggling to provide a roof over their heads, food in their bellies, are fighting against horrible diseases, and for their safety. War has become a part of everyday life, so much so that Generation X hardly blinks an eye lash at its ever-present danger!

So you ask “why has the theme of my written gift to you changed?” How did we get from Social Media: Now What? to The Grid’s Great: Where’s Your Radio? Ask me. I would be happy to explain.

A respected colleague posted a full analysis of their Facebook activity to their news feed and I could not resist checking it out. I was redirected to Zeebly and accessed Social Me. After more than five years in online marketing and social media advancement this was new to me. Okay … I have been busy. So sue me.

The next step was to allow them access to my Facebook page. They said I use Facebook a ton. Big surprise there.

According to their analysis 83% of my posts come from Facebook (of course with the assistance of many apps) and 7% come from Android. (This is about to change folks, as I just ordered my first tablet computer today). Rumor has it that the average person posts from Facebook 58% of the time. I talk the most about Social Media, Community, and Business and am ambitious and spontaneous. They examined my statuses, looked in depth at my speech, my likes, my post times, my friends, and much more to figure out my online personality.

Of my 1,200 plus posts they are usually about education, general questions, culture, love, excitement, my day, humor and happiness. The personality traits that they attribute to me are extroverted, confident, compassionate, spontaneous, traditional, spiritual, ambitious and optimistic. They say that I have published more words than the Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, which has a total of 36,363 words. Too bad they only looked at Facebook, if they ran the same analysis of all my social media channels, then I am sure that I have published what amounts to many books.

My most popular status thus far is:

“To every single one of you who are on my friends list – – I enjoy catching up, looking at pics, hearing about you and your family, sharing jokes and news, along with getting and sometimes giving…”

Ironically this sums up my philosophy. We all have an online presence. Whether we are aware of it and manage it is our choice – this goes for individuals, organizations and businesses alike. This motivated lady took it upon herself to brand herself and to learn how to teach others to do the same. This assessment of one of my platforms shows that my efforts have not been in vain.

Don’t you just hate it when you have a brilliant idea for a blog post and you type it all out and then the computer goes wonky on you and you lose all your hard work! I just did that. Yeah, I know we are supposed to save, but when we are in the zone and what we have to say is just flying out of our fingertips, it is easy to get caught up in the moment and forget that technology is just a tool and it is how we use it that determines its success rate. That being said …

A good friend of mine came in with the most recent copy of Newsweek and said they had an article that I must read. My friend handed me a magazine with a cover picture of a woman holding her head in her hands, with her eyes squeezed tightly shut, her mouth was wide open like in a scream, and the photo was shattered with the center point being the woman’s nose. Then these words were over-laid: iCRAZY, PANIC, DEPRESSION and PSYCHOSIS.

I must thank Tony Dokoupil for writing this great article and if you have not read it, you certainly should. There are some really good nuggets in there, some that my new friend Annie Murphy Paul would really enjoy. If you have not checked out her work, I would recommend it to you as well. But I digress. Tony’s article talks about how we have become cyborgs, because of this continuous life of connection that we lead, which seems normal. Just because it seems normal does not mean that it is healthy or sustainable or for that matter that we know what the repercussions will be. However, when you dive into the article it will reveal some very compelling research – research about the implications. The cultural phenomena of smart phones plays a major role. Do a little research and you will be amazed.

If you are a regular reader then you know that my family plugs in every day at the office. But on ourtime we LOVE to be outside. We have as much outdoor living space as we do indoor. We LOVE to go camping, sit by a fire, hike, mountain bike, four wheel, paddle and since my husband is a swimming pool man, we have one of those and spend as much time in the water as possible. Additionally, I am addicted to gardening. I love plants and to be surround by living breathing life. I hate concrete, city noise, traffic and the general idea of too many people being crammed into a small space. Check out my Facebook page and you will see photo after photo of plants and flowers; they are like my children.

We do not have cable.

That is right; I said my household does not have cable. Our provider came out and buried our lines so that we could have a secure internet line that could not be chewed in half by squirrels or blown down in a storm and as soon as they buried our lines we canceled our cable. The customer support person that was helping us told us that we could not do that!

Well we did. We rent family movies and we watch Netflix and YouTube videos and play video games from time-to-time. But we value our family time and do not need cable for that.

I have to give credit where credit is due and thank my mother Tina for instilling these values in me. We have always utilized technology and had the latest gadgets, but those gadgets had their time and place. They like everything in life must be used in moderation, because after all life is all about the people we share our lives with and finding balance.

Thank you Mom!

Additionally, our friends and family know that it does not do any good to call or text us in the afternoons or on the weekends. You can leave a message and we will get back to you, but if you want to see us or to talk to us, you had better come knock on our door. When we do not have to be plugged in, we are not. We value authentic connection with those we care about and genuinely feel that the best way to do that is with face-to-face in-the-moment communication.

So are you addicted to the internet? Find out here. Then come back and share you score. I scored 30. How about you?

Do you ever have those days where something that you have seen or heard rattles around in your head? I have sent 100’s of emails, processed tons of invoices, answered more questions that I can count and have been BUSY. But all day long, as I have gone about the business of life, these two items just would not get out of my head!

“Those who win are producers, not consumers. The first thing you do each morning should be active, not passive – no Facebook, no email. Whatever you choose should put you in a state of mind for the rest of the day. Choose carefully.”

I will be the first one to admit that the difference between an off and an on day is how I start my day. On the weekends, or rather off days, I will start my day with quiet stillness and coffee. You will not get me moving without it and odds are you will not get me online or on the phone, unless it is to post a blog or column article. My perfect day begins with me sitting on my huge front porch sipping on coffee, processing my dreams from the night before, and letting the world slowing drift in one sight and smell at a time.

However, on days are a little different. I wake up as close to when I have to leave as possible (I mean minutes), go to the bathroom, jump into clothes, grab my stuff and make it to the car. I crank the ignition that doesn’t require it (out of habit), drive to work (usually in silence), come in, load the coffee pot and plug in. Plugging in includes turning on the computer, connecting my mini-computer to sync (phone), logging into at least two email accounts (sometimes 3 and throw in social media sites for good measure), checking the voicemails (on at least two phones) and many times putting on my headphones (for tunes).

How do you start your days? What is the difference between your on days and off days?

Item #2 – This quote,

“When you internalize facts, you begin to internalize a conception of the world. You begin to try to fit new facts into a network of old facts. You begin to operate in a liminal space that taps both conscious processing and broad intuitions.”

Do you love flowers? Most people say that they like flowers and would be flattered to receive them. BUT very few people truly love the flowers of a plant.

Love requires sacrifice. How many people do you know who will sacrifice for a plant, much less the flowers of a plant?

I love flowers. I love plants. I spend a lot of time and resources (money, blood, sweat and blisters) and energy investing in having plants and flowers surround me.

I love social media. Do I love the concept, the time spent, and the resources spent?

I love the flowers of Social Media! The flowers of social media are the relationships that enrich our lives and our businesses, which of course are extensions of us and our lives.

Just like I love gardening because I love plants and their flowers, I love the flowers of Social Media and everything else that goes with it, even the sacrifice! Most would say that is not Social Media! The flowers are part of the plant.

Today, I had the pleasure of meeting with a small business woman who actually just wanted to talk. She wasn’t looking for free advice or trying to sell me anything.

It seems that my name kept popping up on her computer screen and she finally decided that it was time to meet the persona in person. I am so glad she did!

Sharon is one lady who understand the value of networking, whether by utilizing technology or just in good ole fashioned face-to-face meetings. She has been with her company for 24 years and in that time she has built a business, but she has also built a family.

The joy that I get out of my career is the clients that have become my family. – Sharon Herrick

First allow me to tell you a little bit about what brings me here, to this place and time.

In January 2010, I was doing marketing for a small business in Fort Smith, Arkansas that had a shoe-string budget and wanted to reach as many of their target audience as possible with little to no investment. I knew where there was a will there was a way, but there was only so much time in the day. Conventional means just were not cutting it. So for the sake of my job, my client’s reputation and to produce results I began to look into Social Media marketing. In that month, I did the market research, formed a plan and launched. I started with a Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter account, began blogging here on WordPress and eventually took a column with Examiner.com.

Not only did I discover that Social Media was just another set of tools like the world wide web, email, websites, and cell phones, but I discovered a passion! So I began taking on other clients in the Greater Fort Smith Region. I discovered yet another passion!

Of course I, like other Social Media pessimists, at first thought that it was a waste of time and unnatural way of communicating. But I had clients that expressed needs and I had discovered a wonderful way to increase their exposure and help them meet their goals to solve their problems.
So with my doubts, my reservations, all the necessary time investment and the world-wide transparency and the nay saying of my friends and family, why did I continue? Why did I bother? I love to connect with people. I value honesty and equality. Social Media networking and marketing were the perfect fit. I got to do the things I enjoyed, met tons of awesome people from all walks of life, and was learning a new tool set, wherein I could write, share, and help others. Little did I know that in 2010 SM networking would be the most significant business development of the year. I saw the value.

I am excited! Tomorrow afternoon, May 19th, 2001, just 16 short months after taking the plunge I have the opportunity to stand before 50 of my friends and colleagues from across the state and share my passions with them. Don’t you wish you could be there?

An advocate by definition has nothing to gain from the advancement of a cause, practice and/or belief. However, when your job and/or lively-hood and reputation is on the line then it is not as easy to be a consultant, coach, thought leader and/or innovator. Or is it?

I assert that indeed one is no different than the other, because we never know for sure how one action will lead to another or cause a demand. Never mind the fact that when you are passionate about something, it drives you and you want to share it with anyone and everyone that might listen. Some may call you crazy, tell you it’s a bunch of fanciful ideas and some will never understand. But do you allow that to stop you?

No.

Today, May 4, 2011 I sat in on the SKC Webinar: AVAYA Social Media Manager. Molly Denton, mollydenton@avaya.com and Jeff Holton, jeff.holton@skccom.com where the co-hosts and the information that they offered was both accurate and useful. They talked about Social Media and Customer Service, Supporting Customers using Social Media, Creating the Business Case, gave Reporting and Administrative Examples and offered a Social Media Management Demo. They addressed the questions of which channels of social media to utilize, how to measure social media success, how to leverage social media, how to integrate contacts and how to improve outbound performance.

Of course, the ultimate objective is to Engage Continuously. But the real question is HOW?

We all know that you have to Listen, Share and Engage, but HOW?

The answer that Molly and Jeff offered is to determine your reach and interaction within the framework of a strategy.

Then Molly and Jeff got to the HOW: Do a social assessment, form a social strategy, construct your social roadmap and then adopt and collaborate.

Molly and Jeff, I enjoyed your presentation and the information that you shared. The AVAYA Social Media Manager seems like it would be a GREAT product for a medium-to-large company that seeks to have someone else manage their social media.

All that being said I, Annie Sells, am going to continue to do what I am passionate about and that is to teach the little ladies and gentlemen (small business owners and individuals alike) how to utilize social media tools and applications to connect authentically with the people within their world. Because once we know where we are, know where we want to go, form a plan for how to get there, begin the work and work together authentically connected, we may fail, but we might just get there.

Either way we will touch the worlds and lives of others and that is what it is all about!